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Beset by habitat destruction, overfishing and pollution, the ocean is losing the ability to provide the benefits that humans have come to rely on: food, livelihoods, climate regulation. All of this is happening in the face of a rapidly changing climate and acidification of seawater, which is reducing the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon and to regulate global temperatures and local weather patterns. This isn’t sustainable.

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Conservation International envisions healthy oceans benefiting all life on Earth in perpetuity. CI is building the tools, partnerships and programs to address the pressures on the ocean — and the negative impacts on species, ecosystems and ultimately, on people’s lives. Our long-term goal is to safeguard the world’s essential ocean and coastal biodiversity and most productive ecosystems in order to maximize the long-term ecological, social and economic benefits for people and nature.

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EditItem Text:CI applies a “whole ocean” approach by designing solutions that address issues in the context of the entire system so that multiple benefits can be achieved and unintended negative consequences can be avoided. We balance the many ways people interact with nature, including food production, economic development, community involvement and traditional knowledge sharing.

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EditItem Text:This approach engages partners across all levels — from individual fishers to coastal communities to national governments — integrates science with traditional approaches, and acknowledges the connection between ecosystems and economics.

With an extensive network of ocean programs around the world, CI supports the creation and management of ocean places that harbor globally exceptional natural resources and are critically important for people’s well-being.

Through CI’s Seascapes program, governments, businesses, communities and other stakeholders work together to conserve the diversity and abundance of marine life and promote human well-being. CI has directly supported the creation of 232 million hectares (573 million acres) of protected areas, where activities such as tourism, development and fishing are managed to ensure sustainability.

In the Pacific, we’re advancing the Pacific Oceanscape, a commitment by 23 countries and territories to secure a future based on sustainable development, management and conservation of the ocean and islands of an area covering 10 percent of the world’s ocean surface, including economically important waters that provide nearly half of the world’s tuna catch. In partnership with the communities and governments of the region, CI is helping reverse ecosystem loss and conserve critical habitats in order to build the resilience of the Pacific Oceanscape’s 30,000 islands, atolls and islets to the effects of climate change.

CI works to ensure that decision-makers and partners understand the value of nature and the tradeoffs in ocean health that come with different management decisions. We equip decision makers — from indigenous leaders to policymakers — with accessible, evidence-based tools to actively engage in ocean management and governance.

In 2012, CI launched the
Ocean Health Index, the first assessment tool that combines and compares biological, physical, economic and social elements of the ocean’s health to measure how sustainably people are using it. By providing a detailed diagnostic of ocean health, both globally and regionally, the OHI enables the smart, sustainable management essential to providing the resources and services we need now and in the future.

Seafood is the most traded food product globally, and 3 billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. CI works in more than 21 coastal fisheries across nine countries to empower ocean-dependent communities to secure and access this nutrient-rich food source.

In Hawaiʻi, CI is partnering with local communities, the state government and the private sector to integrate local and indigenous knowledge with science to enable local people to grow and profit from their fisheries and aquaculture ponds sustainably.

Coastal communities are increasingly exposed to climate-driven extreme weather events and rising seas. Coastal ecosystems — mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrass beds — provide protection from these events while improving local fisheries. These ecosystems store up to 10 times more carbon — called “blue carbon” — per hectare than terrestrial forests, and degradation of these ecosystems accounts for up to 19% of carbon emissions from global deforestation.

CI is demonstrating the importance of ecosystem-based approaches to address the impacts of climate change, including the use of coastal ecosystems to better protect communities from extreme weather. CI, along with IUCN and IOC-UNESCO, leads the
Blue Carbon Initiative, a collaborative international effort focused on mitigating climate change by conserving and restoring coastal ecosystems.

In Indonesia, an underwater paradise was once decimated by illegal and unsustainable fishing. Now, it’s thriving again. See the success story of CI’s work in the Bird’s Head Seascape in this virtual-reality film.